Photography Ideas for Monsoons

Most photographers during the monsoon pack away their cameras in the closet. They fear the rain & prefer to play safe by not photographing at all during the monsoon. However, if you ask me monsoon presents a plethora of opportunities to photograph. If you follow some safety instructions & keep your equipment safe, you’ll return home with wonderful photographs during the monsoon. I just love shooting during the monsoons. When it rains, I make a point to leave home & I almost always return with beautiful photographs. Here is what I look out to photograph during the monsoons.

Landscapes

During monsoon, the dust in the atmosphere resides down. Even the dust settled on the foliage & other objects outside gets washed away. Due to this, the sharpness & colour saturation in the environment goes up automatically. The deep greens of the foliage are enhanced so are the black/brown hues of the rocks & the accompanying soil. If you pay attention, you can easily frame beautiful landscape shots during the monsoon. Look out for waterfalls, small water bodies etc to enhance your landscape shots.

Street

Streets are often filled with a different story all-together during the monsoons. You may encounter couples trudging slowly, people without rain gear taking shelter under something or even children enjoying the rain without any worries. All these situations make up for a good story telling picture. While you walk on the streets, you need to be aware of the surroundings around you make a good street picture. As always, having a good foresight helps in predicting how someone will react at the occurrence of a certain event. For e.g. If someone is without umbrella & it starts raining heavily, you can almost surely predict the person will begin to sprint to get some cover. At such a time, if you’re ready you can pan the person & get a cool panning effect in the shot which will make it really story-telling.

Macros

Macros can be found a plenty during monsoons. Since the surfaces of most objects are washed due to the rain, you can get incredibly detailed & colourful macro shots. The leaves fallen on a road, snails crawling & even water droplets collected on a surface can make for compelling macro shots.

Sports

During monsoon hit your nearby ground & you’re bound to see people playing football, volleyball(even cricket here in India). Move around & you can make some good sports photograph. The splashes of mud & water during these monsoon sports should be captured so as to make your photographs more appealing.

Reflections

Reflections can be found a plenty during the monsoon. You can find them in small puddles along the road where water gets collected. Keep a watch on these puddles & what they reflect. Experiment with different angles & click only once you’re fully satisfied. Do note however, this is highly addictive. 😉

Off-course, the photo opportunities are not just limited to the above four genres. One can even shoot outdoor portraits during rainy season asking the person to dance away in rain or hold a typical model pose. The possibilities are endless. So get out your camera, go outside & start making wonderful monsoon photographs.

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2 Comments:

Hey Gaurav, Nice site and great ideas. I plan to visit Kerala next June, Any ideas on where to go for great monsoon photography? Appreciate any and all input since I’m just a hobbyist amateur w/ a keen interest in landscape photography. Thanks.
Geo

Generally Kerala is known for its back waters. Its a beautiful places & I’m sure you will find plenty of shooting opportunities. Sorry for the late reply. Have fun. If you happen to drop in at Mumbai, I would be glad to welcome you. Take Care. 🙂